Monday, 8 August 2016

Every year, Delhi Police review their list of most wanted terrorists.
This year, they have included 10 most wanted terrorists in the tally.
The names include those of alleged AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian
Subcontinent) chief Sanaul Haq alias Asim Umar and ISIS recruiter
Mohammad Shafi Armar. The list has been released to all officers and
posters will soon be put up across the city, said officials.
The other suspects are Abu Sufian, Mohammad Umar alias Umar
Hyderabadi, Mohammad Rehan, Mohammad Sarjeel, Sayeed Mohammad Arshiyan,
Sabeel Ahmed, Mohammad Shahid Fiazal and Farahtullah Gohri. Highly
placed sources told The Indian Express that police have shared the list with intelligence agencies.

The new list has been prepared following the recent arrests of AQIS, ISIS and Lashkar-e-Taiba suspects made by Delhi Police Special Cell.
Sources said their names surfaced during questioning of arrested
recruiters. Non-bailable warrants have been issued in most cases and
police are likely to declare a reward soon, said a source.
According to an officer, all the terror suspects are believed to be
based outside the country but have been involved in recruiting Indian
youths through internet chats and video calls. “Our officers have been
told to look out for any suspected terror activity,” he said. The list
will be released in public before Independence Day, he added.

Decoding the Yusuf al-Hindi mystery, a shadowy Indian recruiter for the ISIS

There have been several cases in the recent past in which the police
have claimed to have busted ISIS modules or arrested fan boys of the
outfit. The one name that has always been quoted in every investigation
report is that of Yusuf al-Hindi.

Each of those arrested are
believed to have told their interrogators that they were reporting to
one Yusuf al-Hindi. Does anyone know who Yusuf al-Hindi is? Not really.

OneIndia spoke with at least 15 officers
who have handled cases relating to Yusuf al-Hindi, but there is more of
guess work rather than a confident answer as to who this man is.

Decoding the Yusuf al-Hindi mystery:

Let
us first begin with the surname al-Hindi. This is a common surname that
is given or taken by Indian Muslims who join the ISIS in Syria or Iraq.
This is done for identification purposes. All those with the al-Hindi
surname are posted in the Hind camp of the ISIS.

NIA officials say
that Yusuf is again an alias and the surname al-Hindi indicates that
the person is an India. According to investigators, Yusuf is the one who
motivates, recruits Indians into the ISIS after radicalising them.

Be
it the case in which nearly 30 persons were arrested in a country wide
raid or the operation leading to the arrest of five from Hyderabad, the
name of Yusuf had figured in those investigations. Investigators
claim that these youth had said that they were reporting to Yusuf
al-Hindi. Some of the investigators we spoke with say that it was the
name taken by Sultan Armar a Bhatkal resident who was first part of the
Indian Mujahideen and later floated the Ansar-ul-Tawhid, an Indian
recruitment wing of the ISIS.

However Sultan is said to have died
in Syria, following which his brother Shafi is said to have taken over.
The alias could now be used by Shafi, NIA officials say.

However
there is no confident answer from anyone as none of the investigators
have managed to put a face on Yusuf al-Hindi as yet. When Sultan Armar
had taken over, there was a clear message from the ISIS leadership
declaring him the emir of the Ansar-ul-Tawhid.
Following the death
of Shafi which was confirmed on ISIS friendly social media platforms,
there was no announcement made regarding a successor.
The ISIS does have a keen interest in India which it plans on entering through the Bengal Caliphate.

When
the plans are of such a magnitude then it is only obvious that the ISIS
would declare the Emir for India operations or at least acknowledge
this mystery man called Yusuf al-Hindi.

Intelligence Bureau
officials say that there are many who look after the operations from
India from abroad. It could be a common alias and Yusuf al-Hindi may not
be just one person, but a bunch of them.